I am planning on buying a pair of Grados, since I don't own any full-size cans and a newer pair of Shures. That is, unless I can justify buying a pair of Westones. The Westone 1s are fairly affordable, but I'm not sure if they're that good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by godofcoffee
On the theme of Veblen, I think that people generally undervalue the sociological aspects of conspicuous consumption. If I splash out $5000 for a Maison Martin Margiela suit (recognizable by perhaps one in twenty thousand people), am I somehow more refined than somebody who pays $2000 for an instantly recognizable Prada suit? The suit isn't any more useful to me; I've just paid $5000 just so that I can have the...

I would argue that these are examples of Veblen goods, which operate contrary to the law of demand.
Wikipedia defines this as "a group of commodities for which people's preference for buying them increases as a direct function of their price, as greater price confers greater status"